sponsored by Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd. Capilano College celebrating its 10th Anniversary presents Vancouver Symphony Orchestra conducted by Kazuyoshi Akiyama THANK YOU The Vancouver Symphony Society and Capilano College would like to express their sincere appreciation to Burrard Dry Dock Company Limited for its sponsorship of this special I 0th Anniversary concert. The Company's generosity does much to assist the development of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the broader cultural community of which the Orchestra is an integral part. North Vancouver Centennial Theatre Tuesday, October 10 8 p.m. Programme Prokofiev Classical Symphony In D Major, Opus 25 Symphony # 94 in G Major (Surprise Symphonv) Haydn Intermission Siegfried's Rhine Journey (From Gotterdammerung) Wagner The Firebird Suite Stravinsky Notes by Leonard Burkat Sergei Prokofiev (1891 - 1953) Clasalcal Symphony In D Major, Opu• 25 Historical studies were not a very important part of a musician's education in Russia when Prokofiev was a young man, and the works of Haydn and Mozart were generally thought of as quaint and precious antiques rather than as a part of a continuous artistic heritage that led on to Beethm·en and up to the present The origins of this Classical Symphony, however, date back 1D ProJmfiev's conser­ vatory days and reflect the particular views of one faculty member who believed that a good understanding of the procedures used by the early classicists would be valuable to modem composers. Prokofiev studied the instrumental music of Haydn and Mozart with this teacher and was even selected to conduct a Mozart opera in 1914. In 1916 be began to plan a symphony in the classical manner, and in the autumn of 1917 it was completed. His idea was not to imitate the old style but to bring it up to date. The Classical Symphony consists of four tiny movements that, taken together, are only about half the length of the more tradi­ tional symphony. The first is a perfectly shaped little sonata-form movement, l Allegro. and the second is a slow dance in triple metre, Largbetto, like a stately minuet. For the third movement, where Haydn and Mozart usually placed a minuet, Prokofiev wrote a different dance, a Gavotte. Non troppo l!llegro, of great good humour and grace. The speedy Finale, Molto vivace, brinp the work to a close in a great flub of brilliance. The Clusical S ymphony was first performed 011 April 21, 1918, in Leningrad (then Petrogr8'i), and two weeks later Prokofiev left on his long journey to America and �urope. The Symphony is scored for a classical orchestra: pairs of flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets and timpani, and strings. Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809) Symphony No. 94 In G Major (Surprlae Symphony) This Symphony was written in 1791 and first performed on March 23, 1792. It has been Haydn's best loved work since that day, but not just because of the amusing "surprise" in the second move­ ment. It is a masterpiece of the composer's witty, but simple and popular style. The grave, slow introduction, Adagio cantabile, is a perfect foil for the clever Vivace assai with its three sharply contrasting subjects. The second movement, Andante, con­ sists of a simple theme that is now so well known that it is sometimes thought to be a folk song, five artful variations on the theme, and a coda. In Haydn's first sketch, the theme is played softly throughout, but in the final preparations for the first performance, he drew a big "X" across the page and wrote the version we know now, in which the first strain ends with a smashing chord, the "surprise". When Haydn showd his new score to another composer, he said: "This will make the women jump!" At the first performance, he wrote to a friend, there were shouts of "Bravo!" after the first movement, and after the second the audience demanded an encore. The third movment is a fast but heavy-footed Minuet, Allegro molto, in the Austrian peasant style, with a con­ trasting central trio section for bassoon and strings. The finale, Allegro di molto, is a jolly rondo that closes with a witty coda. The Symphony is brilliantly orches­ trated for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets. tim­ pani and strings. Richard Wagner (1813 - 1883) Gotterdammerung • Siegfried'• Rhine Journey In the long Prologue that opens · Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Goda) there is a daybreak scene in which the lovers Siegfried and Brunnhilde are seen to emerge from a mountaintop cave. He gives her the magic ring he has taken from an evil drqon and rides off to do battle for her. The curtain falls and the orchestra plays a musical depiction of his journey along the Rhine. Igor Stravinsky (1882 - I 971) The Areblrd Sufte Stravinskv's music for the ballet, The Firebird, was his first masterpiece. An opera singer's son, Stravinsky wrote the work wben he wasooly 27, after completing his studies with Rimsky-Korsaltov. It wu commissioned by Serge Diaghilev, a Russian impresario whose opera and ballet productions created a new kind of musical theatre for the 20th century. In 1919, Stravinsky selected a suite of five excerpts from the ballet and arranged it for a smaller orchestra than the hu� one that Diaghilev used in his lavish pro­ ductin o . The 1919 Suite from The Firebird is scored for piccolo and two flutes, two oboes and English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones and tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, xylophone, harp, piano, and strings. Members of the Orchestra First Violins Gerald Jarvis, Concertmaster Akim Nagai, Asst Concertmaster Arthur Culver Agnes Roberts Mary Culver Carol Cole Ronald Milne Zena Wagstaff John Matthews Mary Tierney Joan Pierce Leona Oraschuk Jenny Essers Second Violins D'Arey Shea, Principal Robert Growcott, Assistant Principal Angelina Avison, Associate Principal James Reynolds Vivienne Lenhart • Daniel Norton Martha Eagleson Masako Matsumoto Milton Niederhoffer Phyllis Chlumeck:y Bryan King Cellos Anthony Elliott, Principal Christopher Catchpole, Assistant Principal Lee Duckies, Associate Principal David Cole Paula Kiffner Hans Siegrist Dianne Berthelsdorf Mary Dennis • Jane Phillips Banes Kenneth Friedman, Principal Wilmer Fawcett, Associate Principal Alex Nichol Patricia Hutter David ]3rown Warren Long Frederick Schipizky Ann Friedman EbClarlnet John Rapson Bass Clarinet Lawrie Bloom Bassoons Christopher Millard, Principal John Gaudette Kenneth Wagner Contraba.. oon Kenneth Wagner French Homs Martin Hackleman, Principal Brian G'Froerer Michael Wall Roger Kaza Diane Dunn Trumpets Jerold Gerbrecht, Principal • Barbara Butler, Associate Principal Raymond Kirkham Christopher Robertson Trombones Gordon Cherry, Principal Gregory Cox Flutes Camille Churchfield, Principal Harriet Crossland Kazuo Tokito Bass Trombone Douglas Sparkes Tuba Dennis Miller Timpanl Don Adams Violas Leslie Malowany, Principal Stephen Wilkes, Assistant Principal Daniel Bush, Associate Principal Ian Wenham Larry Blackman Daniel Blackman Max Felde Veronica Wagner Rudolf Lenhart William Gordon Pamela Inkman Percussion Piccolo Kazuo Tokito Oboes Roger Cole, Principal Elaine Reid Warren Stannard English Hom Warren Stannard Clarinets • On Leave of Absence Ronald de Kant, Principal John Rapson Lawrie Bloom John Rudolph, Principal William Good Paul Grant Harp(s) Sylvia Mowatt Celesta, Plano Linda-Lee Thomas Personnel and Stage Manager Gerald Nordheimer Ubrarlan Abe Manheim